


Brains Don't Always Play Fair

by Mary Reed (Mary_Reed)



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-typical swearing, Discussion of Depression, Disordered Eating, F/F, Gen, Maybe - Freeform, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, but i like it, is this self indulgent?, just so much swearing I'm not even sorry, overnight oats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 12:24:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20425937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mary_Reed/pseuds/Mary%20Reed
Summary: Lily's pissed.It's admittedly nothing new, but King Falls needs a new am radio host and the women of this town are gonna get a fair shake if she has to personally beat up every last employee of the station, beginning with the ever-absent Merv. (She's tracked down drug kingpins and guerrilla fighters; she can handle an absentee station manager).Featuring Katie Lynch, overnight oats, tough conversations, and pillow fights.





	Brains Don't Always Play Fair

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks kfam discord server for bullying me into posting this. I'll admit Katie may be a little folksier in this than she is in canon, but I was listening to a lot of Amnesty while I was writing this and also I do what I want. 
> 
> As always, more detailed tws in the end notes (although most of this is pretty fluffy), and if I missed something let me know!

Lily's _pissed_. 

“I mean did you _hear_ that bullshit with Masterson?” Lily is pacing front of the couch, wearing a track into the carpet (although if she’s being fair, half pint left a nice dent for her to follow). “What a fucking asshole! ‘I’m helping Merv avoid a lawsuit’ how about asking Chet to keep it in his goddamn pants, did that ever occur to _Shotgun_?” 

Katie nods sagely from her perch on the sofa. 

“Jack in the Box _Jesus_ you’d think he’d be more aware of how much he’s fucking over all the women in this town considering he’s gay. I mean the whole point of staying in the closet was because he knew he’d be fired if it ever came out.”

“True,” she replies. That’s one of the things Lily likes most about Katie; she’s frugal with her words. She’s so used to people as loquacious as she is: Sammy with his quick, acerbic tongue, Ben who talks a mile a minute when he’s _not_ worked up (Jack whose mouth could never keep up with that massive brain of his but she’s not thinking about him she’s _not_). Katie takes her time with words, considering and weighing and letting silences hang heavy. 

“How many women is that now that have been told not to apply or applied and heard jack shit?” Lily flips around to face Katie. 

“Too many,” Katie says around a bite of overnight oats. They have a deal; Katie will split them with her if she agrees to eat half. (She’s not sure how Sammy found out but her jar is twice as big as Ben’s now, a point she routinely uses against him). 

“I’m of half a mind to call in to the show and kick his ass on air, the dickweed.” (She’s picked up some new swear words since meeting Herschel). 

“That could be good for him.” Katie pats the couch next to her. “Now are you gonna sit down and share these with me or am I gonna have to come back on my lunch to make sure you’re eatin?” 

“Is that a promise?” Lily shoots back, an anxious edge to the flirtation. 

“There’s always an open seat in my car, Lil, you know that. Now c’mere.” 

She huffs angrily and flops down on the couch; if her thigh is pressed up against Katie’s, neither of them is saying anything. “I just don’t understand how he could say something so stupid; he knows better than that. He’s a better _person_ than that.” 

“Sometimes it ain’t about how good a person you are; it’s about what you know and what you’ve bothered to go about learnin.” Lily takes a contemplative bite of oats, ignoring the extra spoon in favor of snatching Katie’s. “Sammy’s spent a long time pretendin to be someone he thinks deserves to fit in; you think a lot of people called in to Shotgun Saturday Nights talkin ‘bout workplace discrimination?” 

“But he’s not an idiot; he could’ve looked into it, or at least listened when Tiny Tim called him on it instead of persuading mini-me it was totally fine.” Katie raises an eyebrow at Lily until she picks up her discarded spoon and angrily takes a bite. (She pretends her heart doesn’t leap at the proud half-smile on Katie’s face.)

“You’re right, it’s ‘bout being open to listen. You know I’ve been listenin’ to your boy on the radio for damn near five years now.” She pauses, looking pointedly at the oats again. Lily sighs and takes another bite. “I think he’d be right amenable to a talkin’ to from someone he respects to know ‘bout these things.”

Lily scoffs around her oats. “Well then I don’t know who the fuck he’s gonna talk to here.” Katie raises an unimpressed eyebrow. “What? I’m eating, Jesus.” 

“That’s not what the eyebrow was for, Ms. Wright, and I think you know that.” Lily rolls her eyes and takes a spiteful bite. “Sammy respects _you_.”

Lily nearly chokes on her oats, scrambling to swallow them. “Yeah fuckin right. Tolerates me? Sure. Begrudgingly loves me? Yeah, absolutely. But respect? Absolutely not. I couldn’t even save-“ she cuts herself off and wishes violently for a drink. A strong, soft hand lands on her shoulder and pulls her into a hug. For a few moments it’s quiet aside from the hitch in her breathe Lily’s trying to hide. 

Katie’s voice is gentler when she speaks. “I know you heard that broadcast when the lil frog fucker called in before…well, before Sammy’s attempt.” Lily curls closer. “He thinks you hang the moon, Lil. He thought if you couldn’t save Jack then no one could, and you know he was only mad at you for what he saw as quittin’ cause he spent so long hatin’ himself that he only knew how to feel one way ‘bout the whole situation.” 

_She fuckin called me out, like she always did, and I always loved her for that. She never let me settle for second._

It echoes in Lily’s head, and she angrily swipes at the tear on her cheek. “Well he could fuckin let me know that for once, instead of spouting off about it on the goddamn radio.” 

Katie chuckles. “That’s a fair point, Ms. Wright.” She runs her hand softly up and down Lily’s arm. “I reckon I’ve never met anyone quite as righteous as you, and my boss is Troy Krieghauser.” That gets a bark of laughter out of Lily. 

“Seriously, what is with him? It’s like there’s not a mean bone in that whole gangly body. I don’t get it!” 

“He’s quite the upstanding officer of the law.” They fall into a companionable silence after that, passing the spoon back and forth, extra forgotten on the coffee table. As Lily’s taking the last bite (at Katie’s silent, unflinching request), Katie casually looks away. 

“You know, Lily, I think talkin’ to Sammy about the whole Chet situation is the right move, but I can’t help feelin’ there’s somethin’ else botherin’ you here.” Lily stills, spoon still in her mouth. “They never asked you to apply, did they?” She swallows, her breakfast suddenly sitting heavy in her stomach. 

“I mean, why would they? Sammy doesn’t want me around any longer than I have to be.” Her tone is forcefully glib, and Katie waits for her to say more. “I know we’re ‘friends’ or whatever, but I know where we stand. He’s not gonna put my name in when he thinks I’d be better off doing my podcast somewhere far from here.”

“Why do you think that?” 

“Why else wouldn’t he ask me, Katie?” 

Katie sighs. “I don’t pretend to know why folk do the things they do. But I know Sammy cares ‘bout you. And I know he’s still not doin’ great.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

“Well, Ms. Wright. Wasn’t all that long ago Sammy thought everyone would be better off without him. Stands to reason he’d think you’re better off without him too.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” Lily stands again, resuming her track on the carpet. “He knows I care about him; I even got all sappy on the fucking _Sammiversary_ specifically so this shit wouldn’t happen.” 

“And that was awful nice of you. But brains don’t always play fair, Lil. If caring about someone and knowing they cared about him was enough, Sammy never would’ve gone after Jack.” Lily freezes in her tracks. “It probably never occurred to him that you caring was enough to make you _want_ to stay.” Lily frowns.

“What about Ben? And Troy, and Emily, and _you_? Does he think the only important person here is him?” She’s angry, stomping hard enough to piss off the downstairs neighbors, but she’s losing steam as things start clicking into place. 

“You’re right, he’s only thinking about himself, and I’d sure like to think we’re enough to make you want to stick around.” Lily flushes at that. “But for Sammy, I’d reckon that in his head, nothing is worse than the thought that, even if he _could_ believe you want to stay, you’d stick around long enough for him to hurt you.”

“Wha-that doesn’t make any sense! He’s not a disease or a curse, he’s my broth-” She stops abruptly, sticking her fingers in her hair and massaging her temples. 

“Brains don’t always play fair,” Katie repeats, shrugging. 

“Well fuck, what am I supposed to do about that?” She throws up her hands in frustration. 

“What do you think?” Katie’s face is inscrutable as always, and Lily huffs a sigh. 

“Probably tell him he’s an idiot and I care about his stupid face.” Katie raises an eyebrow. “Okay fine I’ll be nicer than that. Marginally.” Katie’s smile lights up her whole face.

“That’s my girl,” she says. Lily blushes furiously and snatches a pillow off the recliner behind her, chucking it at Katie. “Why Ms. Wright, how very Ben Arnold of you!”

“The Little Engine that Could has _nothing_ on my skills with a pillow.” 

“Is that so?” asks Katie. The eyebrow that accompanies it is suggestive, and quickly obscured by a second pillow. 

“It’s on, officer of the law.”

“Police Academy didn’t just teach me ‘bout laws little lady.” Katie brandishes a pillow of her own. Lily’s responding grin is _vicious_. 

* * * * 

Four hours later, Sammy and Ben walk through the front door mid-argument. “I’m sorry, but I draw the line at the goddamn _Mothman_ Ben.”

“Open your mind, Sammy. Have you not seen enough weird shit in this town to at least consider it?”

“Mothman. A man that’s a moth. I mean come on Ben, how would that even work?”

“Dude. The logistics are not what’s important here.”

“In what world-” Sammy freezes mid-snark as he takes in the state of their apartment. 

“What the hell did Lily do?” Seemingly every pillow in the house is scattered across the living room floor, including Sammy and Ben’s. Two of the dining room chairs have a blanket draped between them, and all the couch cushions have been stacked into a makeshift wall on the opposite side of the room. 

“Jack in the Box Jesus, she could’ve at least cleaned up. And did she and Deputy Lesbian have sex on our _pillows_?”

“Oh _God_.” Ben drops the throw pillow he was picking up and leaps backwards. 

“Calm down, Frodo. It was just a pillow fight.” Lily emerges from the bathroom with wet hair, looking perhaps not _rested_, but more content than they’ve seen her in some time.

“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” asks Sammy. 

“Well Frodo saved all of Middle Earth, so thanks for the compliment, Lily.” 

“Frodo _Gamgee_,” Lily taunts. 

Ben splutters. “Ho! That is a deep cut, Lily. Low fuckin’ blow.”

“Well if the lack of shoe fits…”

“Oh my God, I live with nerds. This is my life now.” Sammy puts his forehead in his hands. 

At the same moment, Ben bellows, “Get ready for round two you discount Eowyn!” and launches the pillow he’d just dropped at Lily’s head. 

Things devolve quickly from there. Sammy sits stubbornly on the couch and refuses to participate, despite getting a pillow to the head from both sides, and Lily and Ben both take cover within seconds of the first shot fired. 

By the time Emily stops by to say good morning to Ben before her shift, the apartment is in shambles. At some point one of them tipped the couch over (Ben swears Lily did it, Lily swears it was Sammy), and scattered all around the apartment are various pieces of bedding.

Sammy audibly gags from his position on the floor when Emily walks in and plants a kiss on Ben’s head. “I’m gonna throw up,” he groans, voice muffled by the fleece blanket piled on his face. 

“Don’t listen to him Emily, that was just _adorable_\- oof!” Lily barely catches the projectile he lobs her way. 

“Stop thirsting after my girlfriend, Lily.” 

“Benny, is that…a raccoon pillow pet?” A snort rings out from the Sammy shaped lump on the floor. 

Ben sputters. “It’s- I- Sammy bought it, okay? I had nothing to do with it.” 

“I didn’t make you keep it, _Benny_.” He’s thrown the blanket off his face to really lean into the smugness. 

“Well it’s not my fault that pillow pets are so soft and convenient for travel, okay? Jack in the Box _Jesus_ can’t a man just enjoy his garbage bear pillow in peace?” He nearly topples the chair fort behind him as he gesticulates wildly. 

“_Man_ feels like a stretch, booster seat.” Lily quiets down as Emily shoots her an admonishing look. 

“I think it looks very comfortable, Benny.” Emily tips Ben’s jaw up for a kiss, eliciting several boos from the peanut gallery. As she breaks away, Ben looking a little dazed, she smiles beatifically. “Bye Sammy, bye Lily.” She turns and heads back out into the frigid morning with Ben staring in open awe after her. 

“That is one _hell_ of a woman.” Lily whistles low. 

“No arguments here,” responds Sammy. Ben nods absently in agreement, clearly still a bit love-drunk. 

Lily meets Sammy’s eyes and they both look at Ben and then the massive blanket now draped over Sammy’s knees simultaneously. Sammy’s smirk turns sharp, and Lily meets it with a dangerous grin. As the two of them make quick work wrapping a “Ben-rrito,” Lily steals glances at her friend. He is smiling, laughing at Ben’s shouted protests and matching Lily’s barbs line for line with restrained glee. He looks _lighter_, and Lily feels a sudden urge to somehow trap the expression on his face and keep it there. She remembers Jack’s ability to pull Sammy out of his spirals with a deep ache, but she sees the way Ben does it too, with perhaps less warmth but equal levels of passion and care. She sees the way _she’s_ helping him, too, just by being here.

_Brains don’t always play fair_.

Well, neither does Lily Wright when the stakes are high enough. And she’s never backed down from a challenge before. 

**Author's Note:**

> TW for canonical suicide attempt, discussion of suicide, depression, canon-typical self loathing, disordered eating habits (minor)
> 
> I like to think I've never heard someone make the Ben-rrito pun, but the making of said burrito is entirely the kfam discord's fault. 
> 
> I'm the Worst^tm at responding, but your comments and kind words inspire me to write more and better tales. Feel free to drop a line; I'd love to chat!


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